Hi.

Feb 1 Home Library & Office Tour

Recently on Instagram I shared pics of the most special room in my home: my personal library and home office. As an avid reader and a freelance writer I've worked hard to create a space that feels warm, welcoming, and organized enough to make sure I feel like I can buckle down and get some work done!

Given how many people expressed not only their enjoyment of the aesthetics of the space but a desire to create something similar in their own home, I wanted to share some of the details about how this room came together.

My little reading nook chair came from Wayfair last winter. It's secretly a recliner which means I can stretch out and lounge with a good book without the usual clunky aesthetics of a reclining chair.

My bookshelves are a mishmash, a combination of what I already had (one super study bookcase that has been to New York City and back) and a set that was purchased from Walmart, and an additional case that was purchased just months after I bought the set and discovered that they no longer made the same style I bought. Who knows why, I've embraced the different styles to suit different collections.

These gallery shelves are a staple in my house, this is one of three sets my husband and I have put up and we've only ruined the walls a little bit in the initial learning process! We ordered them from Home Depot so that we could get long, sturdy shelves. If you decide to order your own shelves one of the biggest tips I can give you is to ditch the plastic wall anchors that come with the shelves and buy metal wall anchors. They're much easier to get into the wall and they give you more peace of mind in their sturdiness.

I prefer the shelves over hanging so that I can easily swap out prints and rearrange items when new acquisitions arrive. If there's one thing I can count on it's constantly buying or accumulating more wonderful art. If you're a Nerdy Post subscriber it means you can easily accommodate all the great art that arrives each month.

Almost all of the frames are from Michaels, and I usually try to stock up on extra frames whenever they're having one of their big buy one get one sales.

I did branch out and try another style of shelf for the display above my desk since it was available on Amazon at a lower price, and would ship more quickly than the typical Home Depot order. The notch in this shelf doesn't provide any special security for my items, it has a lip after all, but it does provide a handy spot for my dry erase marker, so that's a win I guess.

I purchased the felt letter board from a company on Etsy that has since closed shop, but there are lots of other options available. And I made the magnetic bookmark display last year. You can read the details of how to make your own here.

Given how many of us have a tendency to overspend at Target it should come as little surprise how many items in my office/library have come from there. This desk, storage cabinet, and chair all came from Target. The faux fur throw is a winter addition to make things that much cozier, and another Amazon gem.

This fabulous pop of color was purchased, again, at Target, two summers ago, so unfortunately there's no easy way to snag one for yourself. But, I highly recommend browsing Target this summer for their indoor/outdoor rugs. This style of rug is tightly woven and flat, capturing at least less dust than a thicker pile. I have a severe dust mite allergy, and only recently have I started added thicker/more textiles to my home since I started allergy shots a few months ago and hope to see some vast improvements in another few months. Indoor/outdoor rugs are also easy to spot clean, so if you are spill-prone, or like me, have cats that create mess, this makes cleanup quick and easy.

Alright. Now here's the real secret to my office. While i try to keep knickknacks to a minimum and organize things in a way that is visually pleasing, some things need to frankly be hidden. Which is where my closet comes in: the land of organized chaos.

Of course my favorite partner in crime, my tenacious Miele vacuum. But beyond that, I have oh so many photo props, bags, childhood toys, and other items that fail to easily find a home elsewhere in the room. To help reign in some of the crazy and to ensure that I can easily find props in particular I have two main systems in place: The over the door show storage has been engineered to hold my long stem flowers and branches. I went big with a bulk order of plastic bins and have organized all my flowers by color, making it easy to find the exact item I'm looking for when it's time to take pics!

None of this came together overnight. It was an accumulation of items over around two years and an a week of me painting over the terrible tan color that was there when we moved in. I listened to many audiobooks while assembling furniture and organized and reorganized all my books in various ways, allowing for my preferences to change with mood and season. If you take on a library overhaul let it be a process and not necessarily a finish line.